


When Things Go South

by MellodramaticLawliet



Series: 50 Short Stories of Your Favorite Bisexual Disasters [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, angst but cute, based on a sentence prompt, prompt:How can you be maybe dying? It's either yes or no!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-15
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2020-06-28 15:56:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19815571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MellodramaticLawliet/pseuds/MellodramaticLawliet
Summary: Steve is injured in a fight against Hydra and Tony is reminded of his own history with shrapnel.





	When Things Go South

The mission against the Hydra base had gone south pretty quick, and when Cap didn’t give them any signals Tony made the executive decision and called it a day, “That’s it guys, we’re retreating. Steve what’s your location? I’m coming to pick you up.”

Tony dodged another missile, rolling in midair and willing Steve to reply as soon as possible. The comm just replied with crackling static and Tony felt his heart skip a beat… Not that it was unlike Steve to do something impulsive and have it blow up in his face. “Steve? Does anyone have eyes on Cap?”

“I’m by the north entrance,” Natasha spoke up, “He ran by me a minute ago, two tanks on his trail.”

“Goddammit.” Tony muttered, adjusting his flight trajectory toward the North. There was another explosion from the North East and finally the comms crackled to life.  
“I’m here.” Steve grunted through the line, “Retreating is a good idea, please hurry Tony.”

Tony narrowed his eyes. There was something wrong with Steve’s voice, and the forced way he’d kept his voice even. Also, he’d said “please.”

“Steve,” Tony said slowly, narrowing his eyes even though no one could see, “Are you hurt?”

“A little.” Which meant a lot.

Tony sighed, “Just please tell me you’re not dying.”

“…Maybe?”

“How can you be maybe dying? It’s either yes or no!” Tony knew he added booster rockets to his suit for a reason, he’d just been hoping his idiot boyfriend wouldn’t be that reason.

Tony found him half buried in snow in the wreckage of two tanks, groaning with one hand pressed firmly to his stomach. Steve jolted when he touched down a little too fast, eliciting another groan that made Tony want to tear this base apart brick by brick.

He lifted his faceplate and ripped off a gauntlet to inspect Steve’s wounds, “JARVIS? Bring the jet to my location. Team? I’m sending you my coordinates, get here now. We’re going to have to leave as soon as possible, Steve needs medical attention asap.”

He had a cut on his forehead and the blood was dripping into his eye, but it seemed shallow and the serum was already starting to heal it. Along with that, his right arm seemed to be dislocated, and the chances of his ribs being completely intact were slim, “Hold on sweetheart.” He muttered, allowing himself a moment to brush Steve’s bangs out of his face gently.

“You know this is why we stick to the plan.” He gave Steve a meaningful look, and Steve just gave him a wry smile, starting to shake his head but wincing.

“You’re one to talk, Shellhead.”

Tony let out the breath he was holding, if Steve had the energy to snark at him then hopefully he’d be alright. He examined his legs next, but other than a few cuts he seemed to be okay. There was a bullet hole in his right thigh, but one scan from the suit told him it passed through cleanly and didn’t hit anything important, so it wasn’t a priority.

Steve still had his hand clenched tightly over his gut and there was a lot of blood soaking the snow around him. Tony breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the jet touch down directly behind them, Thor and Clint running into view at the same time.

“Help me get him on the jet.” Tony looked to them and saw the moment they both paled at the sight of Steve. Tony didn’t trust the cold hard metal of his suit when Steve looked so delicate, so he ran ahead, ditching the suit just inside the jet and rushing back out to help just as Nat and Bruce came running into view.

“We better go!” Bruce shouted, luckily not in Hulk form, “They’re right behind us!”

Tony swore, and Natasha grabbed Clint by the arm, the two of them jumping in the pilot seats, “Keep him steady!”

He hurried back to where Bruce and Thor were crouching over Steve, whose eyes were squeezed shut, jaw clenching every few seconds. Tony slipped his hand into Steve’s as Bruce carefully cut the uniform over the wound in his stomach. Tony nearly threw up when he saw the black metal shards embedded across his boyfriend’s stomach.

“What did they do, throw a tank at you?!” Tony tried to push the red out of his vision, there was time to go back there and burn their base to the ground later. Steve opened his mouth as if to respond and Tony quickly stopped him, “Don’t answer that.”

Steve let out a huff of breath that Tony liked to think was laughter, and turned his head toward him, blue eyes opening and gazing up into his. Even pain-filled and afraid, he still managed to convey utter warmth and affection just by meeting Tony’s eyes, and Tony leaned down to press a kiss to Steve’s forehead, trying to keep the tears out of his eyes. This wasn’t a funeral yet.

“Tony.” Steve rasped, and Tony shook his head, “I-“

“Nope, tell me that tomorrow when you’re fine.” Tony brushed back the hair on his forehead.

Steve offered him a small wistful smile and took a deep breath, “I love you.”

Tony let out a shuddering breath, finally letting go of the tears burning the backs of his eyes, “I know. I love you too. You’re going to be okay.” He leaned down pressing their foreheads together and remained that way for the rest of the ten minutes it took them to reach the mansion.

Somewhere in between then and their landing Steve fad fallen unconscious and Tony found himself grateful if only because then he didn’t have to watch and hear the pain on his boyfriend’s face as they carried him off on a gurney.

Tony sat on his knees in the jet for a minute or so, staring down at the blood he’d gotten on his hands, praying that that wouldn’t be the last time he’d ever get to talk to Steve, hold him, tell him he loved him-

“Tone.” He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to find Nat above him, “He’ll be okay, he’s made of stronger stuff than we all give him credit for.”

Tony just nodded blankly, allowing himself to be pulled to his feet and directed into the door on the roof, and into the mansion. She walked him all the way to his room, practically shoving him into the bathroom. Tony washed his hands off methodically, only coming to his senses when he turned and got a face full of cotton when Nat threw him a clean shirt.

Pulling it on, they marched together to the med bay, finding the rest of the avengers gathered nervously outside of the doors, “Hellen won’t let us in.” Thor said mournfully.

“Something about being distracting and in the way.” Clint muttered mutinously, pacing.

Nat rolled her eyes, “You’re always distracting and in the way.”

“Thanks.” Clint winked at her and subsequently dodged a knife.

Tony said nothing, not finding it within himself to engage in their usual banter. He stood staring at the doors chewing on one thumbnail, a nervous habit he thought he’d broken years ago. He only stopped, one or two nerves settling down, when he felt Bruce’s comforting presence beside him.

“He’ll be okay.” Bruce said, so quietly Tony half thought it was to himself.

“Oh? And how do you know that, oh wise one.” Tony’s quip lacked its usual sharp edge.

“Because he’s strong,” Bruce ignored his forced sarcasm and turned to send a meaningful glance at Tony’s chest, “And he’s not the only one here with shrapnel inside him.”

If you can survive that in a dingy cave in Afghanistan, then Steve can survive this. Tony heard the unspoken words and wondered why everyone called him the smart one when Bruce went around saying profound things like that.

It was another 40 minutes before they heard anything, but after what seemed a lifetime of waiting, one of the nurses came to the door, peeling off his gloves and looking suddenly intimidated as five Avengers loomed over him.

“He’s, uh…” the nurse took a step back and Tony tried to breathe, wondering what the poor guy had seen on his face that made him scared like that.

“He’s going to be fine.” They all turned to find Helen Cho in the doorway, smiling at them tiredly. Clint whooped loudly, and the others went in for a group hug and Tony was grateful because he didn’t think his knees would have supported him otherwise, “He’ll wake up in the next few hours.”

When they entered the room, Steve was lying peacefully on the drab hospital bed, his torso wrapped in gauze and medical tape, but Tony was glad to see the cut on his forehead was almost healed, and his arm of course was back in its normal place.

“He got lucky.” Helen stated, arms folded, “That much shrapnel would’ve killed a normal person, but it was concentrated in the lower part of his abdomen and we were able to remove all of it.”

Tony swallowed thickly, trying not to think about shrapnel burrowing into vital organs, “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me, it’s my job.” Helen nodded, “If you need anything let me know.”

Tony and Natasha waited out the three hours it took Steve to wake up. Tony knew he was being even more of a mess than usual, but he barely took his eyes off Steve’s peaceful looking expression for the whole three hours, only relaxing when Steve’s eyes fluttered open, mumbling a quiet, “Tony?”

“Hey.” Tony smiled, watching as Steve copied his expression.

“It wasn’t that bad, was it?” Steve frowned, poking at the tape around his abdomen.

“Do you want me to go prematurely grey?” Tony rolled his eyes and pulled his hand away gently, trapping it between his own.

“I think I’ll go tell the others the good news,” Nat stood, “I’m glad you’re okay, Steve.” He smiled at her and the next thing Tony knew it was just him and Steve in the room.

“I’m the only one who’s allowed to have shrapnel in me.” Tony raised an eyebrow at him, and Steve snorted, reaching out a hand to rest against the arc reactor glowing faintly through Tony’s t-shirt. Tony let out the breath he was holding, covering Steve’s hand with his own.

“I know better than to tell you not to do that again,” He raised an eyebrow and Steve had the decency to look sheepish, “But just be more careful, okay? I don’t think I could stand to lose you. I’ve lost too much already.”

Steve nodded and winced as he tried to lean over. Tony pushed his shoulder back gently and leaned in himself to press a quick kiss to his lips before resting their foreheads together, “I promise.” Steve muttered, “I can’t lose you either.”

Tony didn’t know what he was going to do with this loveable idiot, but for now he was okay and that’s all that mattered.

**Author's Note:**

> This work is part of a series of stevetony/sambucky fics I'm writing based on a couple sentence prompts. If you liked this story and want to see more let me know, comments are always appreciated!!


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